Nick Mazza, former girls softball coach who was arraigned on child porn charges. Nicholas Mazza, 66, a former girls softball coach in Cobb County, Georgia, was arraigned on federal charges of distributing child pornography.
Mazza worked as a fast-pitch softball coach at "GeorgiaScout," teaching girls between the ages of 8 and 17 years old. He told investigators that he preferred pornography depicting girls about 10 years old, according to Atlanta-based WSB-TV.
"The victimization of children is one of the most heinous and despicable crimes imaginable," said Sally Yates, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. “Distributing images of the sexual abuse of children on the Internet only compounds the harm done to the children. We will continue to vigorously pursue and prosecute those persons who collect and trade these images.”
Investigators came across Mazza after monitoring a peer-to-peer download program that allowed individuals to share child pornography available for others. The agents found that Mazza had child pornography videos on his computer that he was making available to others through the file sharing service, which was not named in a Tuesday news release.
Agents executed a search warrant on Nov. 6, 2014, at which point they found a computer and hard drive that contained thousands of images and videos of young girls being sexually abused, investigators said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Jones is prosecuting the case, which came before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Walker for arraignment.